The SAW series was started in 2004. The idea came from James Wan and Leigh Whannell. They both came up with the idea in Australia. They created the first SAW movie with only a budget of $1.2 million. The second and third movie were directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. The movie was produced by Gregg Hoffman who sadly died in 2005. In his memory, Bousman dedicated SAW III to him. In all 4 films in the series, Tobin Bell & Shawnee Smith are the main characters. Even though they were both killed in the 3rd installment, appearences will be made by them in the 4th installment of the series. SAW IV will be coming out on October 26, 2007. SAW IV is said to answer questions from SAW III. The question of why Jigsaw poured wax on the small tape, what was the connection between Obi and Jigsaw and what Jeff has to do to escape the layer of Jigsaw.